BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the New York-based National Action Network, today cut the ribbon on his downtown Birmingham headquarters which will focus on protecting voting rights across eight southern states, he said.

"We will, out of this office, coordinate our work throughout the South against those new measures that have been designed to suppress the vote," Sharpton said. "Make no mistake about it, these are designed to suppress the vote and we are here to fight against voter suppression."

Nearly three dozen people attended the 20 minute ceremony including Sheila Tyson, Birmingham City Councilor and president of the local NAN chapter and Hezekiah Jackson, president of the Birmingham Chapter of the NAACP.

Birmingham was selected as the hub for the campaign because "this is where the fight to get us the right to vote was headquartered in the first place," Sharpton said. "Birmingham is where Dr. King and others led the fight that led into Selma that led into the Voting Rights Act."

Sharpton began his day with a breakfast meeting with area leaders at 16th Street Baptist Church and will conclude his stay in the city with a 7 p.m. mass meeting at the historic church, which was home to numerous rallies during Birmingham's society changing civil rights movement.

Sharpton said challenges of today are "more institutional, more subtle so it is harder for people to identify," he said. "It is hidden in the laws rather on the signs in front of the water fountains and the signs in front of hotels. So you have to get past the nuances and the subtleties, but the devastating results are the same."